Mum sues family of girl who accidentally slashed her in the face with skis in half-term holiday horror
Louise Timbrell, 42, was skiing with her family in the French Alps when the shocking accident happened
A MUM is suing the family of a young child who left her 'scarred for life' in a horror skiing accident.
Louise Timbrell, 42, was on a family winter sports holiday at the Morillon resort – part of the Grand Massif ski area in the French Alps – when the shocking incident occurred two years ago.
Louise, from Ackleton, Shropshire, said she was standing at the side of a beginners’ slope when the life-changing accident happened in February 2015.
Her husband Andy, 43, and their two kids Archie, now 12, and Darcy, 16, were skiing ahead of her when she says she stopped to let people past on the busy slope.
All of a sudden, Louise says a child came rushing past her with a pair of skis over her shoulder – smashing her in the face.
She described hearing her children screaming and seeing her blood on the snow as she drifted in and out of consciousness.
Mountain rescuers stretchered the stricken teacher down the mountain before she was rushed to Sallanches Hospital for treatment.
The mum-of-two says she was sliced from her right cheek down to her lip and left bleeding in the snow, the reports.
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Shocking pictures taken at the time show her horrific facial injuries.
Her upper lip muscle was severed through the inner lip, leaving a hole into the gum and making it difficult to purse her lips when drinking, the mum claims.
She needed six internal stitches and eight external stitches to close the gaping wounds in her face.
Louise says she couldn’t bring herself to look in the mirror for three days after the accident, terrified by what she would see.
When she eventually did, she said she was “absolutely heartbroken”.
She said: “It was the first time I’d seen my injuries and I looked such a mess.
“The cut was across my right cheek and down to my lip and I had a black eye.
“I couldn’t believe what I looked like.”
Doctors back in London told her the scars would likely be permanent.
Now, two years on, Louise claims her life has never been the same.
She says she finds it difficult to drink from a bottle or walk properly, can’t put on lip-liner because of the shape of her lips and dribbles when she speaks.
She also suffers nightmares and needs therapy every week to cope with the traumatic mental effects of the accident.
She said: “I get flashbacks and have nightmares. Just looking at my face is a reminder every day of what happened to me.
“The accident has dramatically changed my life.
“I am terrified of going skiing again, something that has been a tradition for me and my family for a long time.”
Louise paid the cost of the medical treatment herself, but has since claimed the money back through the family’s travel insurance.
Victoria Pegg, international serious injury specialist at Irwin Mitchell, the law firm instructed by Louise, : "Cases like Ms Timbrell's show that even if you're a competent skier, accidents on the slopes can still happen if other skiers on the slopes do not ski safely.
"What is important for Ms Timbrell now is to rehabilitate after her accident, where she suffered physical and emotional scarring that is still to this day affecting how she works."
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